Maternal Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Comparing Methods to Address Bias Due to Length of Gestation in Epidemiological Studies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Studies examining total gestational weight gain (GWG) and outcomes associated with gestational age (GA) are potentially biased. The z-score has been proposed to mitigate this bias. We evaluated a regression-based adjustment for GA to remove the correlation between GWG and GA, and compared it to published weight-gain-for-gestational-age z-scores when applied to a study sample with different underlying population characteristics.

Methods

Using 65 643 singleton deliveries to normal weight women at 12 US clinical sites, we simulated a null association between GWG and neonatal mortality. Logistic regression was used to estimate approximate relative risks (RR) of neonatal mortality associated with GWG, unadjusted and adjusted for GA, and the z-score, overall and within

SUBMITTER: Hinkle SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4818698 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature